Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 10:36 pm
gigacorp changes as outlined in this thread: http://www.freeallegiance.org/forums/index...showtopic=63211
heavy scouts are gone
all spec refs (gigacorp spec refs as well as dreg helium mines) are gone
seeker missile adjustments - returning them to garrison as a large number of ships (figs, gunships/corvettes, even sfs) can benefit from using upgraded seekers. the big advantage to using these is that they are protected from reverse engineering as nan2, probe2/3, sm shield 2/3, and med shield2/3 have been. Seekers are also gaining a fairly substantial increase in the size of their lock radius cone, making them easier to use overall as you can fire locked missiles without pointing directly at your target, as well as a very small (+10) damage increase
some tac nerfs - base sig increase (+.2) on stealth fighters (most are going from .5 -> .7) as well as a small nerf on sig 2/3 (sig 2 sig reduction reduced from .7 to .65, sig 3 from .775 to .725), small increase on sniper signature penalty while firing (.5 to .75 for both levels). lead indicators on all levels of stealth fighters (aside from lxy stealth fighters, as I thought these should retain that particular perk as I am removing their medium shields) are also being removed. in addition, as stealth fighters have been laughing their asses off at shipyard, the signature penalty for having killers mounted is being increased from .25 to .55 - it has been observed that SFs with killers can utterly destroy capital ships with no consequence due to being able to remain invisible while continuing to do damage. this should hopefully minimize that. in addition, the modifier for hunters vs. medium/small shields has been increased from .5 to .65.
as for shipyard, some slight changes here - guardian hull reduced slightly, gunship hull reduced, and gunships are also losing their lead indicator for the pilot's mini-AC weapon. as corvettes are not very useful in their current incarnation (in many of the SY games I've observed, they haven't been bought at all at the drydock level because gunships are good enough), small buff to these - rip time dropped from 20 seconds to 12. in addition, GT assault carriers have been disabled, and the cost of deploying frigates and cruisers (1200 -> 2000 for frigates, 1500 -> 2400 for cruisers) has been increased
small IC perks as it's kind of fallen out of style; there are other factions that do a lot of things IC does better. Without treasures, the old fashioned IC tacspansion is not as good as it used to be (you have to spend a @#(!ton of money to buy everything you need, mini2/utl2/hunt2/sig2/GAs and it's just not that great), and they don't have rescue probe cheese anymore. IC figs are being swapped to close-mapped hitboxes so they're not merely giant targets and are easier to get things done with, and their mining speed is being bumped up from .85 to .1 so they can get their money in a little faster.
The simplest, yet most important change in this version: ER Nanite 3. It is available in garrison (no starbase required) after an advanced tech base (sup, tac, exp, sy) has been acquired, purchasable for $7,500. It will repair 180 hp/sec (nan 2 is 120 hp/sec) with a slightly lower energy consumption rate (110/s for nan3, 120/s for nan2). It is also protected from reverse engineering. Deploying Nan3 effectively will once again allow the use of direct force where it was previously invalidated, primarily because of being able to spike targets down with Mini3. This will make AC3 for sup vs. other tech paths (mostly vs. exp, though) more relevant, and will hopefully cut down on late game stalemate situations, as it will be easier to end a game with a combination of garrison tech along with a team's chosen adv tech path without needing to purchase and complete research on an entire second (or third) advanced tech path. As nan3 will be really, really good, I am pre-empting the "tf adv scouts are overpowered" issue by disabling their second nanite mount. TF is keeping their +15% energy perk, and they will still be really good at nanning @#(!.
heavy scouts are gone
all spec refs (gigacorp spec refs as well as dreg helium mines) are gone
seeker missile adjustments - returning them to garrison as a large number of ships (figs, gunships/corvettes, even sfs) can benefit from using upgraded seekers. the big advantage to using these is that they are protected from reverse engineering as nan2, probe2/3, sm shield 2/3, and med shield2/3 have been. Seekers are also gaining a fairly substantial increase in the size of their lock radius cone, making them easier to use overall as you can fire locked missiles without pointing directly at your target, as well as a very small (+10) damage increase
some tac nerfs - base sig increase (+.2) on stealth fighters (most are going from .5 -> .7) as well as a small nerf on sig 2/3 (sig 2 sig reduction reduced from .7 to .65, sig 3 from .775 to .725), small increase on sniper signature penalty while firing (.5 to .75 for both levels). lead indicators on all levels of stealth fighters (aside from lxy stealth fighters, as I thought these should retain that particular perk as I am removing their medium shields) are also being removed. in addition, as stealth fighters have been laughing their asses off at shipyard, the signature penalty for having killers mounted is being increased from .25 to .55 - it has been observed that SFs with killers can utterly destroy capital ships with no consequence due to being able to remain invisible while continuing to do damage. this should hopefully minimize that. in addition, the modifier for hunters vs. medium/small shields has been increased from .5 to .65.
as for shipyard, some slight changes here - guardian hull reduced slightly, gunship hull reduced, and gunships are also losing their lead indicator for the pilot's mini-AC weapon. as corvettes are not very useful in their current incarnation (in many of the SY games I've observed, they haven't been bought at all at the drydock level because gunships are good enough), small buff to these - rip time dropped from 20 seconds to 12. in addition, GT assault carriers have been disabled, and the cost of deploying frigates and cruisers (1200 -> 2000 for frigates, 1500 -> 2400 for cruisers) has been increased
small IC perks as it's kind of fallen out of style; there are other factions that do a lot of things IC does better. Without treasures, the old fashioned IC tacspansion is not as good as it used to be (you have to spend a @#(!ton of money to buy everything you need, mini2/utl2/hunt2/sig2/GAs and it's just not that great), and they don't have rescue probe cheese anymore. IC figs are being swapped to close-mapped hitboxes so they're not merely giant targets and are easier to get things done with, and their mining speed is being bumped up from .85 to .1 so they can get their money in a little faster.
The simplest, yet most important change in this version: ER Nanite 3. It is available in garrison (no starbase required) after an advanced tech base (sup, tac, exp, sy) has been acquired, purchasable for $7,500. It will repair 180 hp/sec (nan 2 is 120 hp/sec) with a slightly lower energy consumption rate (110/s for nan3, 120/s for nan2). It is also protected from reverse engineering. Deploying Nan3 effectively will once again allow the use of direct force where it was previously invalidated, primarily because of being able to spike targets down with Mini3. This will make AC3 for sup vs. other tech paths (mostly vs. exp, though) more relevant, and will hopefully cut down on late game stalemate situations, as it will be easier to end a game with a combination of garrison tech along with a team's chosen adv tech path without needing to purchase and complete research on an entire second (or third) advanced tech path. As nan3 will be really, really good, I am pre-empting the "tf adv scouts are overpowered" issue by disabling their second nanite mount. TF is keeping their +15% energy perk, and they will still be really good at nanning @#(!.